Brett Cole, founder of Biosafety International and chief executive officer of AMT Group Australasia, has been appointed a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours, recognised for service to youth and to the community. Cole has been a long-serving member of Standards Australia’s Committee ME-60, Controlled Environments, where his technical expertise has supported the development of Australian and international standards covering laboratory safety and design, work that underpins infection control and biosafety practice across healthcare, aged care and social assistance settings.
Standards Australia chief executive officer Rod Balding congratulated Cole on the honour, noting his commitment to standards development had helped advance the industry and support technical excellence both domestically and internationally.
Cole’s OAM was awarded primarily for his decades of volunteer service to Scouts Victoria, a commitment spanning more than 40 years across leadership roles in the Mount Dandenong region, City of Knox and the First Ferntree Gully Scout Group. He has previously received the Governor-General’s Meritorious Public Service Award for Excellence in Scouting and the Silver Wattle award for sustained leadership contribution.
For the biosafety and infection control sector, Cole’s honour is a reminder that the standards work underpinning day-to-day cleaning and facility management practice is driven by individuals with long records of service well beyond the industry itself.
